Gray Skies Black
by lnorganic Angel
Summary: It's taken a fair amount of work, but Naruto finally feels ready to carve his name into history as an S-Rank missing-nin. Leaving Konoha with a light heart and a personal agenda, how far will his skill grow, and how sucessfully will he attain his goals?
1. Jinteki Kyougijikou

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize belongs to someone else. Any overtly original twists placed on old ideas you may wish to incorporate, feel free. Completely original ideas and concepts, please ask.

Naruto: Gray Skies Black.

(**_Gray Skies Black)_**

Naruto stood, surrounded by dust, cobwebs and darkness. He was in a short corridor that had a descending slope which fell back behind him. Two doors stood, both on opposite ends, with seals etched into their thick metal, barely able to be seen in the thick black. The one behind held only two of the most well-known, universal seal-chains there were. The first kept contained air fresh, and the second resulted in sound being unable to penetrate inside or outside whatever it was that lay contained within. The door Naruto was approaching, however, looked more like an ancient, religious artefact.

Top to bottom, left to right, the solid metal door was covered in seals. Rather than resulting in horribly severe security measures, the boy's amateur knowledge could only create a basic grounding focus for him to raise and attach a Genjutsu to, along with the lowest blood-locking mechanism. It was disgustingly over complicated, but sealing wasn't common knowledge, the bare basics being restricted to the higher echelons of ANBU, or the Jounin rank. Anything more was strictly Kage level, or held onto greedily by the Clans.

Sighing slightly, Naruto bit his thumb and placed it near the hinge of the door, watching it open and feeling his Genjutsu disperse immediately. Walking out into the pale moonlight, his standard ANBU attire desperately began grabbing at the pitiful amount of shadow pooling about the rounded corner of the small, concrete bunker as he dropped a leather bound journal at his feet.

Closing the door, he flipped through a quick few handseals, bit his thumb and then pressed his right hand against the door, pumping a respectable amount of chakra into four seals while his thumb re-activated the blood seal. There was a small ripple in the air, then the previously white concrete cylinder had turned into just another of the many stumps littering the area – a result of the agreement brokered with Kumo years ago.

Picking up the discarded book, Naruto allowed a small, self-satisfied smile to cross his face. "It is done." Turning, the boy looked over his shoulder in the direction of Konoha, nothing more than a small glow in the horizon. He wanted to leave so badly, now that all his research was completed, but it would do no good. He needed something to cement fear into the minds of all who would dare try to apprehend him.

He supposed it was a good thing he had a mission to apprehend an A-Rank missing-nin with his team tomorrow. Even better that one of his subordinates was a Yamanaka, and his Taicho one of the very few Uchiha still in service after the massacre.

He would set the bar high, indeed.

**_(Gray Skies Black)_**

"R-Raven... wha... what is the meaning of this?"

Naruto stood behind the drugged female who had spoken, Yamanaka Miyuri. "I am truly sorry, Miyuri-Chan, but I cannot allow you to endanger yourself in what is about to occur."

Her eyes widened upon the use of her name, and she struggled weakly to turn around. "What... what do you mean?! We've been on hundreds of missions, Raven! H... How do you know... my name?"

Naruto removed his mask, allowing the admittedly pretty woman to lay eyes, for the first time, upon her unexpectedly young team member. Smiling slightly at her wonder, he nudged her own rabbit mask off with the toe of his sandal and spoke. "You seem truly surprised at my youth, Miyuri-Chan. While most people are fooled by my soft-spoken way and cold manner, I would've truly hoped that someone who would deem themself worthy of the ANBU title wouldn't be so easily taken in."

Warning bells were blaring in her mind, staring up at the child in front of her. While his pattern of speech remained the same, meaning there was little to no undertones other than that of patience 

and boredom, there was something predatory about his manner now. His un-masking of herself, much less his own person, was also a bad sign.

Whatever he'd managed to poison her system with, it was certainly potent. It was painful to breathe and talk, she hated to think of actually fighting like this. "What..." she grunted, "What have you done... to the others!"

"The others?" He queried, seeming to honestly ponder the question for a moment. "Why, nothing, my dear. They're perfectly fine." He gave her a reassuring smile which suited his face wonderfully, but his eyes not a bit.

"You see," he continued, "There's truly nothing to worry about. Well, nothing for _you_ to worry about, I suppose."

She hated this. She just knew there was something going on behind the scenes, and it undoubtedly would mean trouble for the rest of the team. Thoughts of her teammates safety immediately jumped to the meaning behind her being detained in such a way, and the various horrors it could entail for her in the near future, the least of which being rape. Against all her training, a deep fear shot through her being, settling in her stomach and sending out a wave of distress-laden chakra.

The boy in front of her let out a quiet, musical laugh - like chinking wine glasses. "You need not fear. I already assured you that you're to be safe, did I not?" He smiled again, before turning and taking a few steps away from her, further towards the middle of the clearing.

With his back facing her, she could see the weapon that was his namesake in the bingo book. Konoha's Claymore. It looked vaguely ridiculous on him, but after seeing the slaughter he could dole out with it, people tended to shut up. Herself included. Being around a head shorter than most Ninja, Raven had to have a special sheathe for it made. A quarter of the blade was poking out above his shoulder, and the stupidly long hilt for it, which was atop even that, was the length of most people's Radius and Ulna, the bones between wrist and elbow. Even positioned as it was, the bottom of the blade still scraped close to the ground.

There was a wait of about forty seconds, in which time Naruto amused himself by humming a quiet tune.

After what seemed an eternity to the Yamanaka, three black cloaked figures dropped into the clearing, one wearing a dirty-white cape which signified his near legendary fighting ability, it gave her hope that she'd escape the day with nothing more than bad memories. "Raven, report!" The caped-man snapped, and Miyuri moaned to herself, trying to tell them to attack, not waste time exchanging pleasantries.

"Taicho," the young man greeted, a polite smile on his face, though his eyes remained unforgiving. "I'm afraid we've run into quite the conundrum."

"Explain!" He barked, obviously not very interested in pissing about and definitely on-edge due to the fact Raven had removed his mask.

"Ah, well, the thing is..." He delayed, "I've recently discovered the need to... stretch." He reached up and laid his hand upon the top of his swords hilt, near the hand guard. "My," his grin turned deadly, a wave of killing intent washing over the area and causing three out of five to clench up. "Legs," he was off like a shot, drawing his blade and making a swipe for the already prepared Captain, allowing his momentum to carry himself past the man's previous location and towards a tree, slicing it apart with ease.

This act served to break the other two members of the battle-able team from their fright induced stupor; they took to the trees as well. Holding the long blade, longer than himself even, in a lazy, one handed grip, Naruto returned to the middle of the clearing.

"You need not bother trying to extract Miyuri-Chan, Uchiha-Taicho." There was a slight rustle somewhere, and Naruto knew he'd rattled at least one person with his revelation. "She's in no danger, you must understand. I have other plans for her, and I suppose it all revolves around whether or not you three can stop me." He smiled that polite smile of his, eyes not even bothering to attempt searching out his newly made enemies.

"Raven," the Captain's solid voice sounded from all corners of the clearing, "It is _you_ who must understand, that we cannot let you remain unrestrained. Please turn yourself over calmly so that you might be given the psychological help you need, and then reintroduced to the active roster. The penalty for non-compliance, sadly, will be death."

Naruto's eyes scrunched up a little as he laughed that beautiful laugh of his, truly seeming amused. "You do not comprehend, Taicho. I am perfectly sound of both mind and body. This isn't some spur of the moment thing; I've been planning this for the last two years. I understand that, at the moment, I am merely an upper A-Rank nin, skill wise. However, I have finally finished something that allows me a form of precognition better than even that of a fully evolved Sharingan! You, Taicho, are to be my benchmark."

"You are young and foolish, Raven. What I hold is a Doujutsu, something that's been cultivated for generations. The paltry matter of a few years study, research and experimentation cannot equal that."

Naruto merely smiled, idly sliding a finger down the flat side of his blade. "Lower S-Rank Ninja of Konoha, Uchiha Daichi. Renown for his masterful use of both Nin and Taijutsu, he has reportedly stolen over twenty-three styles of Taijutsu and recombined them into something else, allowing him ample time to weave Ninjutsu into nearly every close-contact move, utilizing both internal and external jutsu, it makes him a truly fearsome opponent, as you can never predict what's coming next. Holding a fully matured Sharingan, he is resistant to nearly all Genjutsu and able to see through the rest. His Doujutsu also grants him the ability to, without hand seals, cast Chuunin level illusions. He has only one known original jutsu, as derived from extensive autopsy, the name given is _Issen Touken: Shinku Henkaku.__ (_Thousand Swords: Crimson Upheaval.)"

"Of course," continued Naruto, "It was a small challenge to track down this information. You dropped out of the Bingo books with the Uchiha massacre, Uchiha Itachi taking up the mantle for your now tattered clan."

"You've done your research well, Raven." Allowed Daichi, approval clear in his tone, "It still does not change the fact that this is where your story ends. It truly is a shame that I must be the one to put an end to your potential. If it is any consolation, I will request to be the one to administer the killing blow."

Meanwhile, in the foliage around, the other two Shinobi had grouped up. They stood silent, horribly intimidated by the fact that their Taicho held such a rank, and more so that Raven stood, seemingly unimpressed, ready to fight the man _and_ themselves.

"How shall we do this, then?" Naruto asked, his arm muscles tightening as he prepared to attack. He had known where all three members of the team were from the moment they had disappeared; his grandstanding was merely so Konoha would have something to write about when he dropped Miyuri off. "Shall I come after you, or do you want to take up the initiative?"

There was no response, and so he turned, allowing Chakra to flow into his legs and heighten his speed outrageously. He chose the tree where the biggest Chakra source was, flinging himself towards it and unleashing a flurry of strikes with such precision and control it should've been impossible, considering both blade and wielder. The blade, being as long as it was, allowed Naruto to cut down three trees, rather than just one, greatly restricting escape. As his targets began to slide apart, the blonde spotted a few white tags and smiled softly.

There was a horrendous explosion, a short, choked scream, blood and spikes of wood flying in all directions, embedding themselves into both earth and tree. The chunks of wood viciously speared through the Chameleon masked man Naruto had substituted himself with, shredding him to pieces and covering the once pristine grass with blood, bone and gore. It seems Daichi hadn't been taking 

any chances, as along with the three trees Naruto had cut down, an extra five around them were no longer in existence, the ground had been blackened and everything in a fairly large area, other trees included, seemed flash-fried.

Chuckling slightly, the boy once more moved out into the centre of the clearing. "Come now, Taicho, did you truly expect me to fall for such a trick? What a careless _waste_ of the Shinobi under your command. I suppose I can't really call it a waste, though, huh? I did, after all, derive amusement from his pathetic cry of fear." Naruto laughed, and despite his cruel intent, it remained clear of any inflection.

Skipping slightly, Naruto sung to himself quietly, yet it still carried well over the quietness of the area. _"I am pretty, oh so pretty! I am pretty and witty and fine! And I pity, any girl who isn't me tonight."_ Laughing delightfully to himself once more, he arrived at his destination, right in front of Yamanaka Miyuri. "Oh, why, hello there, Miyuri-Chan," He smiled, "Wasn't that simply wonderful?"

He knelt down next to her lying form and positioned his head so it was above hers. "These people," he said, "They're using such basic tricks. I'd be surprised if they caught a _Genin_, much less me. But you saw what I did, didn't you? Of course you did, Miyuri-Chan..." He used his free hand to stroke her cheek slowly, leaning down slightly. "Of course you did... after all; you're going to see_ everything!"_ And he captured her lips with his own, dragging his tongue along her bottom lip and smirking, feeling the overbearing rage and killing intent coming from behind him.

Standing, he turned and blinked innocently at the second female of their team now standing before him. "Hello, Inu-Chan. Is it your turn to play, now?" He smiled happily at her, though his eyes picked apart her battle ready stance. _'Perfect.'_ Thought Naruto, _'This is what I've been waiting for. A real test for my new ability.'_

"Hachimon: Kaimon!" She screamed.

"You seem angry, Inu-Chan. Can I be of assistance?"

"Hachimon: Kyumon!"

"What on earth is going on?" He smiled.

"Hachimon: Seimon!"

"If you're not careful, you might end up hurting yourself." He peered at her as if assessing if she was alright.

"Hachimon: Shoumon!"

"Four of eight. You really seem serious about whatever has gotten you in a tizzy."

"Hachimon: Tomon! This is it, Raven! I'll end this in one blow!"

"Oh, is that it? Your limit was reached so quickly? A shame - I truly was expecting a challenge. Still, I do suppose that the opening of the Fifth Gate is somewhat applaudable for a month-old member."

"Don't be so fucking cocky, you asshole! I'll make you pay for what you've done to Chameleon _and_ Rabbit!" She was in a rage, killing intent was practically exploding from her and Naruto's face dropped all of the fake emotions he'd been putting it through.

"It is you who should not be cocky, _Child. _Do you think your pitiful power amounts to anything? Even with it, you are now only an upper A-Rank nin. Pathetic, in all your mediocrity and normalcy," a sneer twisted upon his lips. He felt Uchiha Daichi moving about and sending out waves of chakra, no doubt setting up supporting Genjutsu. That could prove to be problematic.

"Do not waste your chakra, Daichi-San." Spoke Naruto, "I told you I had unlocked something with the precognition abilities of the Sharingan. Though I did not mention it, Genjutsu will have absolutely no effect on me, either. It is pointless to try." While that was true, in a sense, it was mostly bluffing. Still, it seemed to stop him from whatever he had been planning, and so Naruto returned his attention to the woman in front of him at her latest outburst.

"Enough!" She screeched, "I am not some pathetic no-name you can just discard! Pay attention to me, your opponent!"

And so he did. Naruto had spent the last few years of his life researching and experimenting, the final breakthrough given to him by a Hyuuga he had 'killed' after they had gone 'rogue,' and, sadly, moved in such a way that his incapacitating strike was instead a killing blow. His much abused corpse was now decaying on a metal table inside Naruto's recently needless bunker.

Reducing his already controlled chakra to barely anything at all, he finally took in all the chakra sources around himself to their full level, something only possible when his own was offering no interference. He captured every bit there was with his mind and analysed the size and the movement, allowing him to divine the exact range of movements available to his opponent, and, after an attack had been initiated, the full course of their offensive charge.

Overlaying the information his mind was giving him with reality, he attained a wierd sort of three-hundred and sixty degree vision. It wasn't perfect, he could only see things in their entirety in his 

usual field of eye sensory input, but he was still _aware_ and could track what was going on elsewhere, like just then when Daichi moved more from a five o'clock position to a seven.

Uchiha Daichi was merely sitting, apparently content to watch what was about to happen. Most likely looking to see whether he'd been all bluster, and if the girl now charging towards him with phenomenal speed was going to thrash him.

Discarding such trivial thoughts, he took a normal step forward, meeting Inu's charge and tilting his head slightly to avoid a fist, pushing her second arm away from his torso when it shot out and then raising his sword to absorb her foot that whipped up and around. She pushed off his sword, flipped in mid air and landed on a tree, crouching herself into a ball and once more rocketing in his direction, even faster this time. The tree snapped in half from the pressure applied.

She did not realize how absolutely outclassed she was. By being gifted with the knowledge of the size and movement of her chakra, Naruto was able to predict every single course of attack she was going to use. Even though, with the gates open, she was spewing chakra about like a large storm cloud, it was still the most concentrated within her body.

Not even blinking, Naruto took another step forward, small shifts of his body resulting in Inu's attacks missing him by the smallest margins, the same could not be said for the landscape as huge trenches got ripped up and trees broken. Back and forth they moved, with Inu speeding about around him, coming in with attacks from left, right, up and down, yet never did they land. She caused a lot of collateral, but that was it. For the two watching, it was as if he was in the eye of a hurricane, never harmed by the harsh, powerful winds. It definitely gave credence to the idea that he had a Sharingan like ability.

"This is... unreal." Muttered Daichi. Even he, with his Sharingan activated, would not be able to dodge from Inu's fearsome assault with such a small margin of error. Not to say he'd have trouble fighting her, as there was a huge gap between Upper A-Rank and anything with even so much as a relation to the S-Rank.

Letting out a happy laugh, Naruto allowed his eyes to shut as he made his amusement known. "Do you see now, Child?" He spoke, dodging her next eight attacks before they'd even been properly initiated. "You. Are. Nothing."

Dragging a finger along a flash tag on his chest, Naruto let it ignite, causing everyone, Inu included, to cringe. When the two second burst was over, the female ANBU member was nothing more than chunks of meat and bone, flying through the air. Seamlessly he avoided both her segmented body and the gouts of blood, seeming to just walk through it and arrive on the other side none the worse for wear.

Opening his eyes, Naruto breathed in. "My, my," he paused, taking a deeper whiff, "I do think our precious Inu-Chan, in her last second of life, let her bowels go." The young boy laughed, hard. "Kami, Daichi!" He said, excited, his face expressing childish glee, "What have the common Shinobi come to these days?" He laughed again, that innocent, wonderful tinkling.

Daichi was not fooled in the slightest, and thought it extremely wrong that the Shinobi before him could fake such emotions so easily. For, while voice tone and facial expressions all matched up, the 

eyes that were now trained on himself were ice cold chips, and he could see the urge the boy had to test his mettle against a worthy opponent. To absolutely destroy such an opponent.

"To attain such a level of skill at your age is nearly unprecedented in any Village's history, Raven. I see now that pulling my punches to only apprehend, and not kill, would be a fatal mistake."

"Ominous," smiled Naruto.

"As you said before you so uselessly slaughtered Inu, upper A-Rank is nothing special in the ninja world, it is but a resting place for those too pathetic to push past the human bodies limits. A limit I passed many years ago, and have held onto with an iron grip. The Uchiha blood in my veins burns once more, I will enjoy tearing you apart piece by piece and seeing the expression of despair you will adopt at being so outclassed."

The man laughed, bloodlust and killing intent sweeping over the clearing. "I feel like an impatient Genin all over again, Raven! If nothing else, I thank you for this. Let us not dally; I will demolish you with one move."

Dropping from the trees, four copies of Daichi stood around Naruto in a diamond formation, one having a higher amount of Chakra leaking from it then the others. Turning to it, Raven ignored the fact that Daichi was actually the figure on his left.

"You expect to defeat me with such basic jutsu?" He addressed the clone in front of him. Naruto found it amusing that his S-Rank opponent was going to die due to a grave miscalculation.

"Sometimes basic is best, Raven." The same clone he had been talking to responded.

"It is useless, actually, when your opponent sees straight through it."

Rather than continuing the banter, the four forms of Daichi began charging towards him. In a barely noticeable wisp, the clone he had been chatting with previously disappeared and the one behind him spoke. "Obviously, you cannot see well enough!"

Eyes widening, Naruto spun around, staring at the clone no more than 3 meters from him, he saw the real Uchiha closing in on his flank quickly. "_Issen Touken__," _said the clone.

Naruto curiously sensed the build up and movement of chakra that Daichi was utilizing, the way he opened up the first two gates and kept the chakra contained in his single, left arm which now held a tanto. A highly self damaging move, it would seem, but the pure strength and speed it would offer up was theoretically incredible.

"_Shinku Henkaku!"_ Finished the creator, his arm blurring out of existence and delivering a solid ten blows to Raven's already positioned blade, braced against his shoulder. The man's strength was such that, with a bare two gates open, Naruto was forced to take a step back and reposition himself, where Inu, who had the power of five flowing through her, could barely move his arm after a solid blow.

The man in front of him seemed to utilize a shunshin variant, his destination behind him. Spinning quickly, Naruto lowered his blade to protect his right leg, and then slid it up over his torso, blocking the next twenty hits.

It continued in this vein for the next seven seconds, a battle so incredibly fast-paced to Miyuri Yamanaka's eyes that she could barely even see Uchiha Daichi's arm, much less the weapon he controlled with it.

Finally, it ended, with Naruto standing still, blade still held in that sloppy grip of his, while Daichi stared with deep foreboding at Raven, blade at his feet and arm lying uselessly at his side.

"It was an impressive move, Uchiha-San." The Captain was slightly startled, but didn't show it. He was fucked, he knew it. However, he had been expecting things to follow in the same vein as before. 

Raven's opponent does their best, proves unchallenging, and is then cut to pieces and discarded. If he could draw this conversation out, he might be able to position himself properly, grab Rabbit and leg it to a small, allied village nearby.

"Unfortunately, you attacked rashly. Rather like a Genin, ne?" The boy smiled, "You decided to try and kill me straight off with an unpolished move, the end result being an injury that makes use of your special Taijutsu-Ninjutsu hybrid impossible, and myself still alive." He sighed, "To be honest, you would've had a better chance facing me with that specially designed style of yours. Were you truly in such a rush to die, Daichi?"

Ignoring the last part of the boy's speech, the Uchiha couldn't help but enquire, "What do you mean, _unpolished_?"

"Exactly what it sounds like, Taicho – your move is far from being completed. While on the surface it seems to be a godlike ability, you do not possess the dexterity and control to truly make use of it. Had you of been able to redirect your blows, I surely would have fallen at your feet. As it is, you can only direct your sword in a direction and hope for the best, my longer and wider blade allowed me to easily block all of your attacks."

"N-no way...!" He exclaimed. "To be able to break down my move from only seeing it once... What are you?"

The boy laughed a little, looking away from the defeated man now that he no longer held anything to provide amusement. "You are a fool, Daichi. I had analysed your attack and drawn conclusions well before you even finished the invocation. Only a true Taijutsu master, of which Konoha only has one, would be able to truly control the unleashing of two gates, and then the following restraint of them, to a single limb."

On the ground, Miyuri had tears in her eyes, understanding what was going to happen now.

"I'm finished with you, Uchiha. Be happy though, for your legacy will live on through me. I will take your skill and refine it, making it something much more deadly. _Furasshu Yaiba _(Flash Sword), I will name it. Through my iron will, it will be forged into a technique usable in every battle, multiple times, with no effect on the sole user... Me. I'll let it be known that you were the creator of its predecessor."

Walking towards the wide eyed Uchiha, Naruto said. "As a sign of how serious I am, I'll send you out with your own move." There was an explosion of chakra, overwhelming the other two's senses and Raven's arm disappeared from reality for no more than three seconds, in comparison to Daichi's full ten, and then returned to his side, sword grasped tightly in his hand as he continued to move forwards, never stopping.

Striding towards Miyuri, Naruto totally disregarded the Captain behind him as the man exploded, giving the battle scarred clearing a fresh coat of blood and tiny pieces of shredded bone, flesh and cloth. Once again, the boy seemed to simply faze out of the physical realm, dodging all the pieces of meat and various bodily fluids in his quiet trek to the Yamanaka.

"And so there was one," he spoke quietly, staring the incapacitated female in the eyes. She whimpered, tears flowing at the slaughter of her entire team – her family.

Blood suddenly smattered over her petrified features, and Naruto grunted, falling to his knees as he grasped enquiringly at the blade now sticking out the right side of his chest.

"W-w...wha..." He coughed violently, "What?" He asked, coughing up blood this time and falling on all fours.

"You're a fool, Raven. Defeated by a simple Genin rank illusion. Did I not tell you, _'basic is sometimes best'_? A lot of the time, the mind disregards little discrepancies when the outcome is what they were expecting, even those of us with Doujutsu are not immune to that."

Naruto struggled slightly, trying to get up, but the man above him let out a wave of killing intent and twisted the blade some. Pinned to the ground as he was, he could only grit his teeth and groan slightly, not wanting to give the man above him the pleasure of hearing him scream.

"I will admit, though... That was a beautiful recreation of my original technique. An improvement, even. I will take your advice into mind, and work to improve it. Allow _me_ to assure_ you_ that there will be no mention of yourself when I complete it. That you will _die_ here like a wo-"The man was cut off, or rather cut in half, during the middle of his speech.

"Discrepancies?" A newly arrived Naruto queried. "Discrepancies rather like this?" There was a quiet thud, quickly followed by a second as the Captain's torso made contact with the ground, his bottom half loosing balance and soon following.

Blood sprayed all over the area, drenching Miyuri and, once again, completely missing Raven as he moved forward to take the man's blade. A trophy, of sorts. The wounded child lying before the Yamanaka disappeared, and the real one turned to face her.

Seeing his impeccable state after the one-sided fight with her squad, the woman finally allowed the overwhelming panic get to her; fear welled up in her chest so fiercely that she thought she might explode.

Naruto smiled his kind smile and Miyuri let out a keening wail of something primal, fainting.

**_(Gray Skies Black)_**

Raven stood before the large wall surrounding Konoha, a blood caked Miyuri in his arms. He really had no room on his back. He could leave her here, or he could poke the cat in the eye by sneaking in and setting her up in the hospital, leaving her for the nurses to find.

Naruto was bored. Second option was up.

Chakra being as controlled as it was, he felt absolutely no hesitation in using a basic shunshin to move both himself and his passenger up and over the gate, arriving about 10 minutes walk from the market district. Not really wanting to dodge ANBU patrols all night, he simply disappeared in another swirl of wind – his elemental affinity. Popping up in secluded areas along the way to the hospital, Naruto was able to suss out where the patrols were at the current moment, allowing him to avoid them easily.

Arriving at his destination, he spied an open window open on the left side. Long range use of Genjutsu was annoying, but not impossible. Flipping through some hand seals, there was a slight shimmer inside the room. Once again using shunshin, he appeared in the, luckily enough, empty space. Dropping Miyuri in the bed, despite the fact it had no covers or anything else of that nature, Naruto turned and walked away.

It wasn't even a challenge.

On his way out, in what may have been a coincidence, Raven killed off three of the lower ranking squads, simple slashes to the throat, delivered by a kunai. Bathed in moonlight, Naruto withdrew another kunai, dragging it across his forehead protector.

'_Hm, now that I have attained missing-nin status, I'll finally be free to travel about as I please and accomplish my personal agenda. Had I been forced to wait any longer, I might've died. I wonder, just how many kinds of ramen are there?'_

**_(Gray Skies Black)_**

**AN:** Been planning a Naruto story for a while, not too sure if I did a good job. Tell me what you people think. This will be a Naruto x Konan story, because there are not enough of them out there. I have no beta, so any errors you see, please report them. This chapter, and all the ones in the future, will be over 5,000 words. Even if it is just one or two hundred over the mark. I will never post a chapter under this size. AN's aren't included in my final word count.

Anyone who has a translation for Claymore in Japanese, please tell me. You will be given credit.

_Issen Touken: Shinku Henkaku - _Thousand Swords: Crimson Upheaval.

_Furasshu Yaiba - _Flash Sword.

**Ammendments:** Fixed an error in the Uchiha Daichi fight scene. Thanks go out to Juopunumies for noticing and reporting my mistake.


	2. Mottainai

**AN:** Should've replied to all reviews by now, big or small - unsigned reviews have responses in my profile. If I missed you, mention it in a review or send me a PM. Please keep an eye out for any errors, I don't utilize a beta.

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize belongs to someone else. Any overtly original twists placed on old ideas you may wish to incorporate, feel free. Completely original ideas and concepts, please ask.

_**(Gray Skies Black)**_

Naruto was on his way back to the clearing where the battle from earlier had taken place. He'd left some Kage Bunshin behind to do a quick cleanup and organise the bodies for transportation. Never would Raven have placed Inu as a Taijutsu specialist, and yet the way she had so flippantly opened five gates consecutively without being torn apart was intriguing.

The more important matter, however, was Uchiha Daichi. The attack Naruto had delivered to the man's illusionary copy was pathetic. He had flooded chakra through his system, halting it in his sword arm so that he could attain godlike speed. To be truthful, he had barely managed to hit the clone, majority of his strikes having gone wide, but it certainly appeared that he had, and that's what had allowed him to execute the man in such a pathetic way.

Naruto giggled at the mental image, delighted with the shock that had been imprinted on the man's features.

He had pumped far more chakra then a measly two gates into his arm, perhaps an amount even approaching the fifth or sixth gate. The moment he had moved his arm in a direction, it had shot off wildly, a direct contradiction to his thoughts about using his chakra infused coils to steady his control, attaining both incredible speed and power.

No, the ex-Captain had many secrets in his body, and Naruto was going to pull apart the man's chakra coils piece by piece till he understood every last detail. That shunshin-like skill also greatly intrigued him. For half a second, the man had moved so fast Naruto's eyes had lost track of him, it was only the fact that he had marked his landing place with Chakra that Naruto knew where he was going to arrive.

Humming a slight tune, the boy decided to skip back to the battleground. It was, after all, a joyous occasion. Not often one attains new eyes.

_**(Gray Skies Black)**_

After five hours of prancing about and two stops for ramen, Naruto arrived. The sun had shown itself a few hours ago, which meant that he should probably kick his ass into gear. He had lots of stamina, this was true, but his mind was a little taxed. Further battle with an unknown quantity and quality of Shinobi was ill advised.

Gauging his clones' chakra levels, he determined them fit to travel. A good thing, as Kage Bunshin took a rather large toll on everyone mentally, especially when a clone had been in use for a few hours or more. The five he had here would have hampered him greatly.

Rather than waste time talking, Naruto made two hand signs. Instead of a complete language, as most people believed, ANBU hand signs were simply some of the most common orders. For instance, the blonde's commands were 'Prepare,' and 'Move.'

Flicking lazily at the only clone that wasn't required to transport body parts, his hands shifted again. 'Interference. Home. Kill.' The clone bounded off into the trees immediately, most likely already devising traps to place in the most economical and strategic positions. If confronted with enemy Shinobi, he'd hopefully be able to use the original's chakra sensing skill to avoid the blows and regroup. Being able to produce the basic academy Bunshin would also be a great aid when dealing with non-Bloodline ninja. If things went well, Konoha's obligatory retaliation squads would be kept busy for an entire day, more than enough time to drop off the face of the earth.

Looking at the remaining four clones, Naruto allowed a smile to tug at his lips. The first two each had one half of Uchiha Daichi wrapped up and secured to their backs with ninja wire, while the second pair were sporting fashionable, burlap-esque sacks slung over their shoulders. They no doubt contained the many pieces of the recently deceased Inu-Chan.

Holding out an arm, Raven waited for his true prize to be handed over. Looking between themselves, the second Bunshin from the left broke from their formation and walked to one of the many, 

tattered trees in the area. Reaching through the illusionary trunk, he retrieved a jar that was filled with a chakra-conducing preservation liquid, accompanied by two, fully intact, activated Sharingan eyes, their tomoe still circling slowly.

Throwing it to the original, the four clones all watched on disinterestedly as their creator tried hard to control the laughter bubbling up in his chest, instead manifesting itself as choked giggles as his eyes gazed delightedly down upon the jar.

Labelling it a lost cause, Naruto gave in and doubled over as, for the first time in his life, he cackled. He laughed so hard that his entire body shook and his stomach began to cramp, yet he just couldn't stop. Each time the child seemed to be sobering up, he'd break down into raucous laughter even louder and more malicious than previously. Things continued in this vein for a few minutes before, finally, he mastered himself enough and straightened up from his elated, victorious euphoria.

Wiping the tears of joy from his eyes absently, Raven locked gazes with the demonic red, twin orbs of the Sharingan. They glared back at his smug countenance, displeased.

Chuckling quietly to himself, Naruto finally spoke, "Everything shall be mine." Launching upwards, he was trailed by four silent figures. Five shadows blurred, the foliage ruffled and, in the end, no signs were left that he had ever returned. Not once did he break visual contact with those wondrous, hateful eyes.

_**(Gray Skies Black)**_

Naruto had arrived at a fairly large, if remote, village a few hours ago. In this time he had scouted out a house that was near, but not on, the outskirts of town. Infiltrating the building with his doppelgangers had been of little challenge, and efficient use of his kunai dealt with the original owners. The pictures on the walls said that the wedded couple he had just killed had two children.

A boy and a girl, around his own age, actually. They must be at school.

Depositing the precious Sharingan eyes in their – his - fridge, he once again emerged from the kitchen, stepping carelessly over the cadavers lying in the hallway. Pausing for a moment, Naruto stared at the deceased in thought, weighing the pros and cons of just leaving the trash where they lie.

'_Mostly cons,'_ He admitted, silently.

Motioning for the Bunshin to grab the bodies, Raven trekked towards their cellar, one of the more prominent reasons he'd chosen this house. The clones all immediately laid their cargo in the middle of the room, carelessly tossing the civilian corpses away to the side. Without prompting, all four clones initiated a Henge technique. Two took on the forms of the parents, while the other two took on the appearance of the children.

The aesthetically older pair disappeared back up the way they came, while the children waited downstairs with Naruto until they were given the all clear. Disregarding his Bunshin, the blonde haired child walked up to the matching sacks of meat, tipping their contents out all over the floor.

Dropping into a crouch, he began poking the parts into a vaguely human shaped mess, smiling tenderly. Noticing a larger part of a face, he brought it close to his own and murmured softly, "It seems as if_ you're_ the pretty one now, Inu-Chan." Landing a small kiss on the mass of flesh and bone, he chortled happily, returning to his task.

_**(Gray Skies Black)**_

"_...u've demonstrated higher than normal levels of muscle-mass, density, intelligence and chakra capacity - the same levels that a recently graduated Genin would be expected to hold." That was Sarutobi, the Third; they were in his office having a talk, because Naruto was valuable in some way. Not too sure why._

_He didn't really understand everything the man said, being only four, but he knew what was expected from him. "Hai, Hokage-Sama."_

"_The question, Naruto-Kun, is if you want to become a man so soon."_

_Man. Adult. Strength. Naruto liked strength, liked being better than the others. He enjoyed the cooing praise and admiration he received from parents for talking well, more often than not being held up as an example. Lived on the fear he created when beating up others, the power he held when they'd complain, only to be dismissed as jealous children. Those older than him, more powerful, were unconvinced as to his bad behaviour, those weaker fully under his control, no other option available to him. Yes, Naruto wanted to become a man. "Hai, Hokage-Sama."_

"_Then take with you this advice, and apply it to everything you do. 'A grown man does not despair, worry or feel any emotion directly related to these. Two hands to grasp the dream, two hands to grasp the future - two hands to take whatever he so pleases. Everything is his.'"_

'Everything is mine,'_ Thought the child, watching on silently as the vastly older human took a few puffs of his pipe, leathery face content._

"_Now, I have organised for you to be placed into a specially design-..."_

_**(Gray Skies Black)**_

Inu had been nothing special, a mere anomaly. Her chakra coils were more durable than what was normal, allowing her to stave off the bodily harm that came to most while channelling the pure fury that the chakra gates provided. Naruto hypothesized that, had he allowed the match to keep going much longer, she would've degraded rapidly.

A shame he had ended the fight when he had, as his mind was now consumed with half-formed, unsubstantiated theories in regards to being able to cheat the bodily degradation inflicted by the unlocking process. Shelving those thoughts for later experimentation, Naruto turned to Uchiha Daichi. He grinned viscously at the bisected corpse, which had been propped up against the wall by his child-clones before they left to assume their new positions.

While the man's Issen Touken: Shinku Henkaku, was certainly impressive, and the skill he was most thirsting for, the seal-less, combat shunshin was also worth looking into. By first examining the rest of the man's body – and ignoring the arm for now – he could diagnose patterns in the set up of his coils, such as where the Tenketsu points were positioned and the varying sizes of them, to see exactly where and how he channelled chakra. It also greatly reduced his chances of reading the layout of Daichi's body incorrectly, resulting in a blown off limb or worse, when it came time to recreate a technique.

Leaving the bloody scraps of Inu in his wake, Naruto walked up to the Uchiha, smiling at the sight of eyeless sockets. Lying both halves down on the floor, Raven began making methodical cuts along the body with a simple kitchen knife he'd found earlier, shamelessly dragging his hands all over the corpse while channelling chakra, locating the different, changeable parts of the chakra system. Flesh around these areas needed to be removed.

"You know, Daichi," He said, conversationally. "I truly didn't expect you to be such a gold mine." There was no response, and Naruto easily plunged his hand into the cadaver's stomach, feeling about. "Your Sharingan, that was my ultimate goal... many people's goal, to be frank." He paused, pushing in deeper. "I wonder," He said, coming to a realization, "how much the other four Kage's would pay me for merely the _knowledge_ that there are still a few more Uchiha alive, other than that psychotic kin slayer and some heavily guarded brat."

There was no response, only vaguely disgusting objections from Daichi's insides in regards to being repositioned.

"It's a pretty expensive secret, huh? I bet Konoha would be pissed!" Raven thought some more, "There's an idea, huh? I could go back to Konoha and make them pay twice the amount of the most generous offer, perhaps even force them into giving me clemency!" He giggled. "That's a lot of ramen they'd owe me, huh?" Frowning a little, Naruto tried to push between a few bones.

Smiling as he found what he was searching for; Raven grasped it tightly and pumped in some chakra. The torso shuddered, light tremors racking it for a minute or two as the child simply sat there, hand buried halfway inside and kept up the flow.

Suddenly, the man gasped to life, his muscles clenching viscously, causing him to curl in on himself. Well, as much as half a body can, at least. Shoving him roughly back into place, Naruto disregarded the arms that swung up, clawing for his throat as he repositioned the body before him.

Daichi's arms seemed to lose all their ferocity not even half way to their target, weakly impacting with the ANBU clad child, then dropping to the ground lifelessly. Daichi's chest rose and fell calmly as he slowly breathed in and out. Chuckling quietly, Naruto observed the highly developed muscles that coiled, flexed and moved about just from that one simple act.

Funnelling chakra into a nail, Naruto watched it grow longer, sharpen and solidify itself. A weird, if somewhat useful ability, reminiscent to the beginning Inuzuka techniques – perhaps something else he should look into. A few slices around the left side of the chest later, Raven pulled back the skin and muscle over where the man's heart should be. He'd get around to removing it later.

"You dared talk of mediocrity, to preach of pushing yourself past the A-Rank limit. This may've been true, but still you were nothing." Placing more chakra into the body, he began gauging its natural response, observing where it directed the powerful energy first. Amazingly, the man's left arm seemed to act as a drain, siphoning out all the chakra and drawing it towards itself. The boy flooded the corpse in front of him with chakra, watching as the energy began to snake its way through other Tenketsu and pathways, only to halt and reverse, once more being drawn into the man's sword arm.

With blurring speed, the arm shot up, but Naruto wasn't caught by surprise, filled with chakra as it was. When the limb was a mere hairs width away and offering no sign of lost momentum or strength, Raven disappeared with an even greater display of speed, reappearing three steps behind his previous position. _'Interesting,_' He thought, watching as the arm continued to flail about in the air.

'_With no conscious or sub-conscious mind governing the body, I can apparently evoke similar reactions from the corpse with a lot less chakra. Does this then mean that he really did have no _

_control over the technique? No... with his impressive physique, he must've held himself as steady as possible. While the gates would offer up improved strength, immediately funnelling their entire chakra gain into that single limb would've put him back to stage one, most likely even behind that. He'd be losing dexterity, but the tremendous speed boost would've made it a moot point for most.'_

'_Obviously the trick, then, is to have perfect control over your chakra. By directing a tiny amount correctly, you get the same result as flooding the coils to maximum capacity. Not only does this ensure that you won't burn out or damage your pathways and Tenketsu, it only provides enough chakra for one purpose, allowing you to reposition for each strike after the previous one has been completed.'_

The arm kept flailing, striking out at an enemy that wasn't there, but Naruto took note of the fact that the chakra within the limb was rapidly being bled out. He tilted his head, undertaking massive mathematical calculations within his mind, adding in bodily handicaps and revising the sum, then applying it to himself.

There was a flicker, and Daichi's struggling arm was separated at the elbow, sending out a choked spray of black, clotted blood as the majority of his limb was made airborne, twirling, twitching and spewing a similar trail of fluid in its wake.

Naruto's head tilted even more, looking at the ceiling as a slight smile crept up on him, eyes adopting a strange gleam. It was far from perfect, only being one strike, but at least now he knew what he was doing.

He watched as the stump continued to jerk around weakly, bringing a vague sense of amusement to him. It came to a stop soon after, and Raven moved forwards and knelt down once more, ignoring the mess about his knees.

Things were getting interesting.

_**(Gray Skies Black)**_

Mist blanketed the forested area heavily on both sides and crept up behind them, leaving Kakashi's Team 7 and their client, Tazuna, completely blind except for in one direction, forward. Sighing slightly, the Copy Ninja felt entirely unimpressed. Through the moderately dense fog, he caught sight of a lake... filled with water.

'_Can't these amateurs make it interesting for once? Have a lake full of acid or something, maybe a couple sharks capable of utilising jutsu.' _Totally uninterested in reality, he reached for his breast pocket to retrieve Icha Icha Paradise.

Idly flipping through the well-worn pages, despite the fact he'd only bought it last week, his eyes traced the excellently detailed characters. _'I wonder,' _He thought sarcastically, _'maybe it's a Kiri-_

_Nin?'_ Rolling his eye in bemusement more than anything else, Kakashi still kept a firm hold on the tiny hope inside that he was being challenged by someone worthy.

Hearing the parting of air a considerable distance away, the Sharingan wielder calmly ordered everyone to take a few steps back and wait. Contemplating what careening instrument of death would be flying his way this time, he turned another page in the book, none too worried over the – objectively - slow object that was set on a course to intercept him in, roughly, five steps.

He'd give the amateur points for basic calculations; even help them along by moving directly in front of where the weapon would emerge.

He took a step forward.

Out the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a whirring slab of metal, too quickly hidden behind more foliage to be properly determined. Analysing the angle of flight, speed and the fact it had already cut through thirteen trees on the way, Kakashi's mind instantly narrowed down the possible weapon, and his opponent.

Second and third steps were taken.

When one of those eligible opponents was an S-Rank nin, he subtly changed his posture, allowing him the correct stance to access more of his strength and speed at a mere moment's notice. He wasn't really counting on anything, though. The fact that the mist broke apart in the blade's wake, showing a clear path of travel, was demoralising.

He took a fourth step and the tree on his right was cleanly chopped in two, a large, commonly-forged Zanbatou continuing on its path, thirsting to cleave Kakashi in half as well.

Behind him, three shrieks of fear rent the air, male... if somewhat high pitched.

Snorting contemptuously at the fact a mere A-Rank nin would dare challenge him, Kakashi's unoccupied hand sped into action, even as he took the fifth step. Opening his mouth, a specially sharpened tooth broke the skin on his thumb before he lightly placed it on the side of his jacket. One instantaneous puff of smoke later, he held a Kunai is his hand. Tilting the weapon slightly, Kakashi easily deflected the much larger blade up into the air, sending it off over his hair by an inch and setting it on a new, diagonally ascending path through the trees.

A thump, also behind him, reached his ears.

Turning, he frowned down at the unconscious Sakura, ignoring the fact that Momochi Zabuza was currently leaping from the treetops and into the sky to reclaim that large hunk of metal, as if it was worth something - in _or_ out of battle.

"This is the part where you all stay back there, and _not_ get in the way. Understand?" The two standing Genin, Sasuke and Madoka - an entirely unremarkable brat with short, black hair - nodded. Sasuke grabbed the client, Tazuna, and retreated back a few meters, while Madoka had the decency to grab Sakura and hastily drag her back to the other two.

Even if the untalented boy was most likely going to die somewhere around the Chuunin rank, if not before, he gave him a smile for adhering to Kakashi's personal creed.

Despite both Genin's frequent showboating and bragging, they each looked about ready to piss their pants and were far closer to the client than the text book, two man protection formations advised.

Once again he turned, this time being treated to the sight of Zabuza landing fifty or so meters away, a small crater appearing below him and the mist billowing out from his drop point. _'Lovely,'_ Thought the Legendary nin, _'Standard Chuunin intimidation tactics. Yeah, I'm really in for it now.'_

The well muscled man's head stayed bowed, and slight killing intent permeated the air, making the two Genin and bridge builder nervous, but also filling them with awe.

'_Such power...' _Thought Sasuke, jaw clenching enviously.

Madoka's legs were locked in place, and he felt a little squeamish, but still he tried to reform his will and prepare himself to help if necessary. This was his _Team!_

'_What do you mean I'm out of sake?_' Mentally queried the bridge builder, his eyes shifting rapidly between his gourd and the sword-toting nin before him.

The previously low-key killing intent spiked, and the Demon of Hidden Mist ominously raised his head, making eye contact with Team 7's Sensei. "Just hand over the old man, Kakashi. This doesn't concern you."

Tazuna whimpered slightly, tightly clutching his empty gourd. Sasuke's and Madoka's eyes widened, both in fear and wonder. How did this insanely viscous man know their teacher?

"Eh?" Asked Kakashi, lifting his eye from his book and perusing the area around Zabuza, giving him no real thought. "You say something, Ga..." He blinked. "Eto... don't take this the wrong way or anything, Ninja-San, but who are you again?"

There was silence for a moment, accompanied by another burst of ki. The three people already trembling behind the Copy Ninja all felt their breath hitch in their throat, and the Kiri-nin let out a malevolent chuckle, sounding more like a growling dog.

"Very funny, Kakashi," he spat. "As if you _wouldn't_ know who I am... Kirigakure no Kijin!" He swung his blade up and rested it over his shoulders, striking an impressive figure.

Recognition dawned on the Legendary nin's face. "Oh, Zabuza! What are you doing all the way out here?" Zabuza snorted in disgust, but Team 7's Sensei didn't seem to take note, "Don't tell me Kiri actually accepted a mission from Gatoh to kill this bridge builder...?"

The owner of Kubikiri Houcho let out a snarl of rage. "Kiri? _Kiri!?_ What the fuck are you talking about, you brainless fuck! I left Kiri years ago!"

"Ah!" Exclaimed Kakashi, "That would explain the slash through your hitai-ate. I was wondering about that." He delivered an eye smile for good measure, scratching the side of his head embarrassedly. "So," he continued, "What was it you were after, again? I'm afraid I don't have anything too valuable on me right now, and there's no way I'd so much as even _loan_ you my Icha Icha Paradise." He managed to look a bit sheepish.

"Teme...!" Growled Zabuza, totally missing the fact he was now coming off as little more than a joke to the two Genin and an old man. "You want to be a fucking smart ass, Copy Ninja? That's fine. I'll make sure you won't copy _jack shit_ of what I have to offer." Mist thickened, and the level of killing intent that everyone had become accustomed to suddenly sky rocketed.

To the three who'd never experienced a proper ninja battle before, the mist was suffocating and terrifying. Horrified faces seemed melt in and out of reality, whispered screams lingering in the air. The blanketing white reached out with spindly, malformed limbs, desperately scrabbling to consume them too, jumping down their throats and making it hard to breathe.

Suddenly, Zabuza didn't seem quite as amusing.

"Look at these pathetic Genin entrusted to your care, Copy Ninja." The deadly voice echoed from everywhere, yet originated from nowhere, "Nothing but mere children _playing_ at being ninja." He chuckled ominously again, "You know how I got my name, don't you?"

Kakashi opened his mouth to talk, but was rudely cut off.

"In my Genin test, I _slaughtered_ every other possible candidate. I _bathed_ in their blood and rejoiced, sold my soul for power." Kakashi sported a sardonic look on his face, not that anyone could see it.

"S-s... Slaughtered?" Queried Madoka, taking Sasuke's silence, tensed posture and flickering eyes as being on guard, rather than lost inside memories of an eventful night six years prior.

"That's right, Gaki," The man almost cooed. "Unlike other, _weaker_ countries, we of Kiri have to kill at least one other student of the graduating class to attain Genin status." He laughed harshly, "I bet you've not even killed an animal with more sentience than your basic house hold pests!" He laughed again, "Don't worry though, for I'll show you what being a ninja is all about."

With that, he appeared before them, sword already swinging downwards, ready to cleave all three of them into pieces. Half a second later, his head exploded, showering them with water as a Kunai zipped past.

"Oh?" Asked Zabuza, "You can actually keep track of me in this Mist...?" He laughed hauntingly, "I suppose I underestimated the Sharingan's abilities."

At the vocalization of this word, Sasuke snapped out of his trance. "Sharingan?!" He demanded.

Kirigakure no Kijin was only too happy to provide, "Why, yes, the _Sharingan_," he all but purred. "Did you not know your Sensei was _Sharingan no Kakashi_? Renowned for his knowledge of over a thousand jutsu, and original technique's named Chidori and Raikiri. All gained or engineered through his implanted Doujutsu, kept hidden behind that hitai-ate."

"I-impossible," Muttered Sasuke, eyes searching everywhere as he tried to catch a glimpse of his Sensei.

"Amazing..." Breathed Madoka and Tazuna in unison.

For once, a different chuckle broke through the mist. Kakashi's usual, light hearted laughter was darker, filled with steel. "That's right, Zabuza. But you know what you forgot to mention? My _S-Rank_ status. I have little need of such a tool on a small time, A-Rank nin like yourself. Even this pathetic technique, Kirigakue no Jutsu, I learned long ago. In fact, it might interest you to know, I'm standing in the tree behind yours."

There was a deep _thwump,_ the sound of a Kunai tearing straight through a tree and coming out the other side. This sound came into existence again, only this time being reduced to a thunk, as it lost momentum, instead imbedding itself in some wood. The mist cleared, and both opponents came back into view, standing in their original standing spots.

A log fell to the ground, the tip of a Kunai piercing out the other side.

"I'm impressed, but far from fearful, Copy Ninja Kakashi." The muscular man snarled fiercely.

"I'm amused, yet far from impressed," returned Team 7's Sensei, blandly, book still clutched in one hand.

"Hmph," Snorted the Missing-nin, "If you're not willing to use that eye of yours, I guess I'll just have to take it for myself!" He dashed forwards, making Kakashi once again cut open his thumb and summon a Kunai, only this time he palmed two.

Holding them loosely, he put on his own burst of speed, meeting the Kiri Jounin roughly halfway in front of the lake.

Kakashi crossed his blades over one another, so that he'd be able to stop the Zanbatou from sliding down the edge of his Kunai and cutting him in twain. With a clang, they crashed together, Zabuza coming in with an overhead chop, allowing him to add in a lot more force and speed onto his already heavy blade, planning to push straight through the Copy Ninja's guard and split him in half.

It never happened.

Zabuza's eyes bugged out, even as his muscles strained furiously, trying to push past his opponent's guard. Kakashi didn't even budge, his arms unwavering in the slightest and he stared the Kiri-nin directly in the eye.

"S-Rank," He whispered, voice dangerous. Pushing back with phenomenal ease, he threw the opposing Jounin across the lake, slamming him into a tree, hard. The man coughed up blood and began falling, leaving an indent behind, but recovered and kicked off the tree, landing instead on the water.

Everyone stared at Kakashi with wide eyes as he lowered his arms, relaxing. Fear and amazement were present in all, with one emotion more predominant than the other depending on their allegiance.

For some, that amazement shifted to Zabuza as they observed him now calmly standing on the surface of _water_ itself.

Seeing as his enemy was seemingly willing to wait for him, Zabuza calmed himself, trying to come to grips with the man's skill while also planning out a course of action to kill him. The best ninja was the most devious, not the strongest.

Kakashi began to tense some muscles, and Zabuza mentally floundered for something to say, _'I need more time, damnit! Fucking Konoha-nin, wait a god damne – Konoha!'_

"Heh," he straightened his posture, once more hoisting his blade over his shoulder with a single hand and resting it there easily. He now knew that the bastard in front of him had the strength to do it, too - a feat most other Jounin would have problems with. "I dunno what that trick just then was, Kakashi, but you're not fooling me."

"Really." The man sounded unimpressed.

"Yeah, you see, I may have come by a Chuunin or two in this area," He mentally reviewed every second of combat, searching desperately. "And you'd never guess what they had on them! A Bingo Book." He was outmatched in stealth, speed _and_ strength. What the _fuck_ was Kakashi made out of?!

"Wow. Amazing." The reply was droll, and Kakashi turned slightly, watching a few birds in the distance flitter about.

"Yes, it certainly was. Or, more specifically, a particular section of it. The S-Rank listings, the _only_ part of the book which the Five Great Nations confer about and share information." _'If I use one of my more destructive jutsu's, it might distract him, as he's not using the Sharingan... while he's focused on that, I can form a Water clone in his blind zone and take him out quickly.'_

"Oh, you saw that then, did you?" Asked Kakashi uninterestedly.

"You're damn right I saw it, Copy Ninja!" He threw his head back and laughed, "Who'd have believed in Konoha becoming so weak, a mere thirteen year old brat could tear through your ranks so easily?"

"Thir... _teen_...!? _S-Rank?_" Whispered Sasuke incredulously, mirrored silently in thought by those two closest to him.

"He was quite talented, I've heard," returned Kakashi, unaffected

"Talented? Please, don't pull my leg! The fucking kid was thirteen, Hatake. In fact, in this report, it said that he wiped out his own ANBU squad, taking out one your most venerated, S-Rank _Taicho's _in the process." He laughed callously again, though mentally he hoped never to meet the child. "Do you 

hand out such a rank to anyone these days? Even if he _was_ the second last, loyal member of the Uchiha Clan, Uchiha Daichi, the man's legendary abilities surely must've slipped!"

The Copy Ninja's eye tightened. "That's restricted information, Zabuza, where did you get it? Tell me now and save yourself a painful interrogation."

'_Fuck,'_ Thought Zabuza, beginning to summon up chakra into his body for a jutsu. "They were Chuunin skill-wise, Hatake. Their actual rank may, or may not have been... _ANBU_," He grinned viscously, even as the Copy Ninja's eye slowly morphed into a glare.

Killing intent of a level not previously felt exploded into existence, and Zabuza froze, terrified, jutsu forgotten. In slow motion, he watched as Kakashi threw his two Kunai in opposite directions, just barely managing to move in time so that, rather than the one aimed for him slamming straight through his heart, it ripped through muscle and bone, exploding out the back of his shoulder and shooting off into the distance. He was vaguely aware of the fact it passed through a thick tree with the same amount of ease, but that wasn't the predominant thought he held in his mind right now.

A choked scream of agony escaped him, even as he jumped backward; aiming for the base of the tree he had slammed into not more than five minutes ago. Raising his sword with his remaining arm, Zabuza prepared to throw it and make an escape, but stuttered to a halt as a ripple ofdespair, self loathing and bone trembling _fear_ washed over the area, manifesting itself in an opaque, expanding dome that carried off into the distance.

There was pure silence, and Zabuza's heart felt as if it was going to explode, it was all he could hear. He couldn't move, muscles locked up, all except that one. If anything, it worked harder than any other muscle in his body had ever been forced to before. It kept thundering away, unwilling to stop, to relent. He could see the Genin shaking wildly, while the old man clutched a hand over his chest and bent over, but the world had been thrown into silence, and it all seemed to hold no meaning. _'Thump, thump,'_ It boomed up in his ears, reverberating about his skull. He couldn't think, couldn't breathe, _'Thump, thump!' _Why was everything so slow?!

The skies turned black, as from the trees for as far as he could see, avian forms of all kinds burst out and upwards, spiralling around and around, as if they were a tornado of flesh and bone, blotting out the sun. His ear drums were suddenly and harshly assaulted by their horrible, foreboding shrieks and he let out a scream of despair and loss, not understanding where these emotions came from, but wanting it to _stop_.

He began to lift his single good arm, hoping to dull the noise, but it never made the journey to the side of his head. Arm still raised, half of Zabuza's chest exploded outwards, showering the water in front of him with blood and gore, bathing the area in blue light.

Zabuza's body began to descend, a shocked look etched onto his dead features, but Kakashi was no longer in sight, long since having zipped up and through the trees with his Lightning-Affinity chakra boosting his movements. Using five different trees, he made ascending bounds off each one, before appearing on top of the sixth. He moved so fast that the trunk behind him was turned into little more than kindling.

Ramming his Chidori covered hand through the top of a masked nin's head, he kept the technique activated until he reached the stomach area of the body before letting it fade out, yet continued dragging the cauterized body with him, harshly slamming it into the ground as the earth beneath him gave way violently, dirt and stones rocketing off into the air. Breaking bones could be heard as the maimed figure made contact with the ground, half a second in his wake.

In the distance, over the sound of wood chips cutting through the air and imbedding themselves deeply into trees, rocks impacting with the foliage and clumps of dirt crumbling upon contact with the ground, Kakashi heard Zabuza's body impact with the ground.

"Waste of my time," He turned and began walking back to his team. Perhaps now the brats might actually come to the realisation that relying solely on tutelage only got you so far, and that they needed to work individually outside his care to truly become Shinobi. _'Then again,'_ He grouched, _'I'm also not a fucking idiot. I'll be lucky if they shut up sometime in the next three years.'_

_**(Gray Skies Black)**_

**AN:** We're done, yeah. A lot of support given and I appreciate it. Honestly wasn't expecting such a huge amount of reviewers. Most of the common questions have been answered in this chapter. Hey, guess what... 50 reviews for my first chapter! Haha, thanks, guys. :)

Not too happy with this update, all filler. Next one should be fun, though. Lots of battle. 6,000 words this chapter, we're getting somewhere on that front. It's 12:30am, so I'm off to do my dinner dishes... Run out of excuses to procrastinate. Sorry about two alerts, my account screwed up for a bit.

**HONOURABLE MENTIONS:** Ayurveda, Naruto fan and fennikkusso. In the end, Ayurveda wins out, and their suggestion will be what shall, in the next chapter, be used.

**Amendment:** konradmkool pointed out that Naruto is one year older than the other students in the original timeline, this holds true for my story as well. Thanks go to him for pointing out a fault. :)


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